The Kwik Trip/Kwik Star group based in LaCrosse, Wisconsin must view Bettendorf as a gold mine for future gas and convenience food sales.

With two existing locations in the city (along 53rd Street and State Street) and one under construction at Devils Glen and Belmont Roads, the company is now seeking city approval for two additional stations – along Middle Road in the new Bettendorf sports complex development just off I-80 and off Spruce Hills Drive on land where Jumer's Hotel once stood.

The company has requested rezoning for a 2.4-acre portion of the Jumer's site (now owned by Russell Construction) to permit the construction of a gas station, convenience store and car wash. The parcel is between an existing service station at the corner of Spruce Hills and Utica Ridge and the site of a new extended stay hotel planned to the north.

Kwik Trip/Kwik Star also is requesting approval of a site plan to build a 3,000-square-foot convenience store with 20 gas pumps, eight diesel fueling pumps and an electric vehicle charging port on the northwest corner of Middle Road and Championship Drive (formerly Bettplex Drive).

Both the old Jumer's Hotel site and the Bettplex property owners have been granted Tax Increment Financing deals by the city so the additional (incremental) property tax generated by the developments will be rebated back to the developers. In the case of the Bettplex property, the developers, Douglas Kratz and Kevin Koellner, will get the TIF rebates for a 20-year period. For the Russell site, the TIF rebates are for a 10-year period.

Both the rezoning and the site plan review are scheduled for consideration by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at 5 p.m., Wed., Sept. 19.

In addition to the service stations/convenience stores, Kwik Trip/Kwik Star operates the Tobacco Store Outlet at the corner of State Street and 23rd Street. The company has announced plans to convert its Tobacco Outlet Stores to "Quik Trip Express" convenience stores.

Eight months after the Bettendorf sports complex opened for business, the city has yet to determine how much developers will contribute to the $760,000 cost overrun for streets, sewers and storm water detention for the facility.

Grain Processing Corporation (GPC) has been ordered to pay $50 million in damages to settle a class action lawsuit over air pollution from its Muscatine corn-milling plant that harmed thousands of nearby residents.

Iowa District Court Judge John Telleen gave preliminary approval of the... more